Harassment
by BML Hillen-Keene
Summary: Connor is starting to think that someone's coming onto him. But he finds he doesn't really like it.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: don't own_

_I wrote this because from a slashers POV Philip has a huge crush on Connor…(or maybe Connor's brain) and I think Connor would be somewhat unnerved by that. Short and stupid, but I hope you enjoy._

"You are very good at this Connor." Philip smiled, leaning over Connor's shoulder, laying a hand in the small of his back.

Connor shifted a little and fought back the growing sense of unease. Since he had started this project, Philip had been spending more and more time in his lab, more than was really necessary. And he was always touching him. Nothing overt, and certainly nothing that could be construed in any way as more than just plain friendly, or an accident.

"Uh... thanks Philip. That's nice of you to say." he said, trying to hide his nervousness.

"How about a drink when you're done? You could tell me what you've been working on." Philip suggested.

Connor stilled, his unease had no basis, and he knew that... but his year in the cretaceous had made him trust his instincts, and lately they had been screaming at him to stay as far from Philip as he could get. He had put it down to his lack of human contact, save Abby, for a year; he still got a shock when Becker clapped his shoulder, or if someone shook his hand.

"Ah, sorry Philip. Me and Abby have plans tonight." he said quickly, hoping the lie didn't sound as false at it felt.

Philip nodded, but his hand remained exactly where it was. "I see. Another time perhaps."

"Ah, sure..." Connor said, forcing a smile.

Philip left soon after, and Connor sagged a little, his attention now too far from the work he had been doing. He needed to make sense of this sudden surge of his fight or flight behaviour.

"Connor?"

Abby slipped into the bedroom they shared, frowning when she found Connor curled up at the head of the bed, staring numbly at the sheets of paper littered across the quilt. "Connor what's wrong?"

Connor blinked and looked up at her, he opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it again a few seconds later.

Concerned now, Abby moved to sit beside him, ignoring the crinkling paper as she sat down. "You're scaring me Connor."

The last time he had been this quiet and still had been in the immediate aftermath of Cutters death. She didn't think anyone close enough to him had died, ad there was little else she could think of that would elicit this reaction from him.

"I." he began softly. "I think..." he shook himself and frowned deeply. "No, never mind, it's stupid."

Abby fought the urge to roll her eyes. Hadn't they gotten past this? The had their share of fights and squabbles, but despite what they (mostly she) said to each other, they trusted and believed in each other... they were the only members of the original team left, there was no one else they could really trust. "Tell me Connor." she prompted.

Connor looked at her. "I... I've been making lists all afternoon. Because I've been feeling a bit... strange. I thought it might just because we spent a year in the cretaceous, you know, just us too, so everyone suddenly being around, and touching and stuff... it was a bit... shocking. But I've been making lists and..." he looked at her earnestly, needing her to understand what he couldn't say.

It took some work, but Abby began to puzzle out his jumbled explanation. Touching. That was the important part. She knew it had nothing to do with him suddenly developing feelings for someone else, she was completely sure of his love and devotion for her alone. Besides, he had expressed more negative emotions. "You think someone's coming on to you and you don't like it?" she hazarded at last.

His face washed in relief and he nodded.

"Who?" she asked.

"Philip." he answered, is voice no more than a confused whisper.

Abby's eyes hardened. She hadn't liked the man from the get go, and she particularly didn't like how he kept trying to pull Connor into his own little experiments and away from her. She didn't bother to tell Connor he was over-reacting, he was oblivious enough for subtle flirting to fly right over his head, so for him to notice, and be as upset as he clearly was over it told her it was serious. And she had been right, because if Connor, who trusted virtually everyone from the outset was feeling threatened, then there was definitely something screwy going on with Philip.

"Tell Lester." she said.

"Lester?" he looked at her incredulously. "Don't you think I'm just being stupid?"

"Tell Lester." she said again. "You never notice if someone so much as gives you a longing look, so obviously there's something going on if you have noticed. Lester might be able to help." she leaned over and gave his a short kiss. "And if he tries anything, remind him that your girlfriend has a black-belt, and an army of creatures at her back that can kill him."

Connor smiled.

_Crap ending, but I couldn't think of any other way to end it._


	2. Chapter 2

_Another chapter, because I just had a little idea for it. I spent the whole episode last night sneering at Philip when he was on screen, is it just me or he is just really really unlikable? Hence the reason I started this particular fic in the first place. So, a warning… There will be no Philip redemption in this fic whatsoever. Abby will most likely bash him to death for me._

"Miss Maitland." Philip Burton said, stepping into Connor's office.

Abby, who had been trying to get Connor off his arse and up to Lester's office forced a polite smile and turned to Philip. She didn't want to let on that she knew about his harassment of Connor, an accusation from her would just look like she was trying to get back at him for his wanting to kill the creatures, especially if she confronted him now.

"Mr. Burton." She replied.

"Haven't you got work to do in the menagerie?" he asked, his eyebrow raised.

Abby feigned surprised. "Your right." She turned to Connor. "I'll see you at lunch, yeah?" she asked, leaning down to give him a peck on the lips before brushing past Philip and leaving the room.

Philip glanced after her. "She doesn't seem to have taken to me." He said mildly.

Connor turned to his computer and started typing to hide his growing nervousness. Since talking it over with Abby, his unease seemed far more seated I reality than he had wanted it to be, and it would have been nice if she had been able to stay. "Abby's just protective is all." He answered, pleased when he sounded normal.

"Ah yes, her creatures. A somewhat ill thought out venture on my part I will admit." Philip shook his head and stepped well inside Connor's comfort zone, his hand coming to rest easily on his shoulder. "Now, what have you got for me today?"

His hand remained on Connor's shoulder the whole time he was there, and before he left he said. "Will you join me for lunch? There's much more we could discuss."

Connor frowned, was Philip ignoring the fact he'd heard Abby say they'd meet for lunch, or had he just forgotten. With his long fabled paranoia rearing it's ugly head he had to go with the first option, which made his even more uneasy. "I'm meeting Abby for Lunch." He said.

Philip sighed lightly, barely heard, and his eyes swept over Connor. "Ah yes, of course." And he left.

Connor looked after him until he could see him no longer. Maybe Abby was right. Maybe he should speak to Lester.

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"Come in, come in!" Lester called irritably, poking at his computer.

"Hi Lester!"

Lester groaned. "What did I do to deserve this social call Temple?" he looked up then, and what he saw in Connor's face told him that this wasn't a social call. Connor had lost any and all nervousness around him when they had been sharing a flat, so for him to display it now meant one of two things. 1) He had broken something and was coming to make his excuses, or 2) there was something actually wrong. Lester hoped it was number 1.

Connor's false cheer lasted until he was sitting in front of the desk. "I've made lists." He said.

Lester waited, but no more was forthcoming. Finally he rolled his eyes and asked. "Lists?"

Connor nodded, and practically threw three sheets of paper across the desk at him. "I have more at home, but Abby thinks these one's explain it best."

Lester gathered the sheets together. Maitland was in on this too? He was starting to get a headache already. He read through them, frowned and read through them again. "What exactly am I looking at?" he asked. There were no names, just dates and approximate times, and the content in itself was a little worrying.

Connor took them back and glanced at them. "This one is Abby." He handed the sheet back to him, and he read through it again. Completely consistent with what he had observed of them during working hours, given what he knew of their relationship as it stood. "This one is Becker." Again, completely consistent with what Lester himself had observed, perfectly normal friendly interaction.

"And the last one?" Lester asked when Connor didn't immediately hand it over with a name.

Connor fidgeted with the sheet for a moment. "You know… maybe this was a bad idea."

"Connor." Lester said, using the voice he used with his own kids when they were upset. "If a woman had handed me these sheet's I'd be obliged to pull the man she was accusing up for review and possible dismissal, if her fears turned out to be grounded. It's not going to be any different for you."

Connor handed the sheet back, and Lester re-read, just to be certain while waiting for Connor to gather his nerve to tell him who was doing this. Everyone at the ARC knew that Connor and Abby were together, and just watching them together anyone could see that Connor was completely devoted… in a ridiculous puppyish way, which was in no way endearing. So for anyone to be touching Connor in what he considered an intimate manner, they had to either be stupid, or just not care that the man was in a relationship already.

"It's Philip." Connor said finally.

Lester looked up sharply.

"See, I knew this was a bad idea. I'm just being stupid aren't I?" he asked, and Lester could see he was more than willing to believe that if Lester told him.

Lester shook his head slowly. "Unfortunately Philip doesn't come under the heading of my employee; so I can't just pull him in for a chat about this without solid evidence."

"Oh." Connor said.

Despite his uncaring persona, Lester happened to have rather a large soft spot for his two most longstanding employees, and what made them upset, made him a bit cranky. "I'm not dismissing it. In fact, would you say that you'd feel safer if there was a camera in your office? What with all those top secret documents and computer programmes just lying around?"

It took Connor a moment to realise what Lester was offering him. Visual documentation and a reasonable excuse for the camera should Philip ask about it.

"I review camera footage randomly throughout the week, so if I just happen to see something I don't like I can call him on it. Will that be enough or will I have Maitland in after lunch?" Lester asked, knowing that Abby would have every detail out of Connor in minutes.

Connor nodded. "Thanks Lester." He said.

Lester waved him off, but was glad to see that Connor was much more relaxed leaving than he had been when he came in. Once the younger man was gone he lifted the phone and asked security to install a camera in Connors office before he got back from lunch.

_Again, somewhat rubbish, but it's just one of those stories that you have to write or it will eat your brain! I happen to like my brain! Hence the story. Lol. Hope you enjoy. Btw, anybody else think Lester is just awesome! Not as awesome as Connor of course, but awesome all the same!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Philip's still being a sneaky, horrible man in this chapter, but I had a sudden thought. Is he on someone else's payroll? Is there a reason he has to push so hard to isolate Connor (which is what he's trying to do in the show "Don't tell anyone what your doing, not even Abby") Is his obvious infatuation the reason, or is it something else, and his infatuation just happens to show itself… Man do I make no sense whatsoever… Hope you enjoy._

Philip flipped his phone angrily, hitting speed dial as he walked away from Lester's office. He was seething that the man had dared call him in. He had laid it on thick, doing his very best to make it look like Connor was just being paranoid over nothing, trying to twist it to seem like perhaps Maitland had put the boy up to it. But though Lester made the appropriate noises of believing his story, it was obvious that he was siding firmly with Connor on this.

"We need to move to plan B." he said when the phone was answered, and hung up.

Lester had asked that he not approach Conner until the matter was sorted out, that was fine, the situation was about to change drastically, and Lester really wouldn't have a say in what he said or did to Connor. He had tried to keep their interactions as friendly as possible, but Philip had always been partial to his younger lab assistants, be they male or female; and none before Connor had been so resistant to his charms.

He only really had himself to blame for becoming obvious enough to be noticed by someone else. But Connor had such a unique mind that he couldn't seem to help himself. He wanted to possess him, even just for a short time.

Philip scowled and made his way through the ARC towards the car-park. He needed to be out of the building before Plan B went into operation. He had to get the safe house prepared.

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Connor was still reeling from the blow to head when the car he was in skidded to a stop. He had been on his way back to his lab after spending lunch with Abby, Rex, Sid and Nancy, a daily occurrence now, what with Philip continuing his seemingly relentless campaign to get him to go to lunch with him. He wasn't sure what had happened, except an anomaly alert went off, and there was a sudden pain in his head.

Hands pulled him from the car he was in, and into another one. He tried to make out faces, his surroundings, anything at all, but his vision was too blurry. As the second car sped off he felt ill, and not just because of the nausea caused by the concussion he obviously had.

He was feeling worse, not better two hours later when the car stopped again and he was bundled through the door of a house and dumped onto a sofa. He was left alone, and though he wanted to get up and make a run for it, he could only manage to lean forward and cradle his head.

He didn't know how long he had been left alone, but suddenly there were gentle hands trying to lift his face up, and though he was more than a little terrified by being kidnapped, he left his head be raised.

"I didn't expect them to hit you that hard."

Connor tensed. "Philip?" he asked.

Philips hands brushed across his forehead, pushing his mussed hair away from his face. "Yes Connor. No need to be frightened. Everything's going exactly as planned."

Connor pulled back, pushing himself further into the sofa, blinking his eyes rapidly until he could finally make out Philip's face clearly. "Planned?" he asked, his voice a squeak.

Philip smiled. "Of course. You don't think all this was done just because I was interested in you, no matter how pretty you are, now do you?" the man asked, resting a hand on Connors thigh and squeezing gently. "Though you can rest assured that I intend to act fully upon said interest when I get the chance. For now I'll just help you to your room. There are a lot of things to be done Connor, and you are going to help me do them."

Connor struggled weakly as Philip hauled him to his feet and easily pulled him along to a bedroom on the second floor, where he was rolled onto the bed. His head pounded unmercifully at the jolt it received when he hit the bed, and it took him a while to realised that Philip had pulled off his shoes, and his hand was now dangerously close to the buttons of his jeans.

"Stop it!" he cried, shocked to stillness when only of his arms moved down to push Philip's away, the other now firmly cuffed to the bed. When had that happened? Was he blacking out? That couldn't be a good thing.

"Don't worry." Philip said, leaning close. "I don't rape the unwilling. You had best get some rest Conner. There are people who want to meet you, and it would be better if you were a little more focused when they arrived."

With that Philip left the room, and it finally hit Connor exactly how much trouble he was now in. There was something so much bigger than just simple office harassment going on here. He squeezed his eyes shut and hoped to God that Abby and Lester would find him quickly.

_Well… that went a lot faster than I thought it would… I'm very surprised at where this story has gone, it was not my original intention. Hmm… evil Philip! Anyway, hope you enjoyed._


	4. Chapter 4

_Ok, next chapter. I still have no idea what I'm doing. Sigh._

"Jess!" Lester snapped. "Get us out of Lockdown now!"

"I don't know where to start!" she told him, typing furiously.

Lester rolled his eyes in an attempt to act as normal as possible. "What exactly is it that I pay you for?" he asked. "Call Connor, I know he's built some kind of backdoor into the system." He ignored it when Jess glared across at him.

"I know that, I even know what the password is, I just can't get into it."

"Again, call Connor, I'm sure even you can take instructions."

"I've tried, he's not responding."

Lester's head snapped up at that, eyes narrowed. He was not an idiot, and all of this was far too convenient to have been an accident. He scowled angrily. He had gotten the impression that Philip had been hiding something when he had spoken to him earlier.

"I need us out of lockdown now Jess." He said. "Connor Temple has been kidnapped."

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"But why?" Abby asked, and it was obvious to everyone that she was trying very hard not to lash out at any of them. "I mean, I know he's an asshole, but kidnapping someone just because they don't return your schoolyard crush is a bit much, even for Philip."

"Which means there's something more going on." Lester said.

"Connor told me he was asked to become involved in something called 'Prospero'." Matt said.

"I think he's told that to virtually everyone here." Lester sighed, shaking his head. Connor was completely unable to keep anything secret to himself; it was only pure luck that the world outside these doors was so naturally disbelieving or the whole country would already be in uproar.

Abby nodded. "He said it was something about the anomaly's. How to create them artificially, stuff like that. He was more excited about the being able to close them part."

Lester nodded. "I suspected as much. But others are probably not as naïve as he is; and we can't deny that Temple is our leading expert in Anomaly research. If there's anybody who can make that device Helen Cutter was using to get through time, it's him."

"That's why Philip took him?" Matt hazarded.

Lester nodded. "It's the only explanation that fits."

"But why act like… Why would he try to alienate Connor then?" Abby asked, knowing Lester would understand.

Lester sighed again. "That was more a miscalculation on his part. I've done some checking, and apparently Philip has a long history of sleeping with his lab assistants. I don't think he actually realised he was alienating Connor until I called him in here today. Once he did realise though, the only action he could take was to kidnap Connor. Connor might be a trusting idiot, but even he had his limits."

"So what do we do?" Becker asked.

"We go get him back!" Abby snapped out.

Lester held up a hand before anyone could say something that would set fire to infamous Maitland temper. "First we have to find him. I assume his black box is disabled." He looked at Jess, who nodded miserably. "Alright then, it seems we'll have to do this the old fashioned way."

It took less than five minutes to give everyone a job to do, and soon after Lester was left in his office with Abby. He eyed her for a long moment, reading the strain round her eyes. She and Connor had been getting even closer over the past week, which even he could admit was better that the constant sniping that had been going on before, but right now he an upset woman on his hands, and he could about cope with an upset eight year old; their problems were far easier to deal with.

He sighed. "He'll be fine. Philip won't do anything to jeopardise his usefulness to him."

Abby nodded. "I know that logically." She answered. "But this is Connor we're talking about."

"I know."

_Oooooook… weirdness level rising… I have no idea how long this might be, but I'm hoping it won't be too long, it'll be domed to the pile of the unfinished if that's the case (I have a bad track record with long fics… sigh)_


	5. Chapter 5

_Right, back to Connor. Now to find out what Philip has planned for him._

Connor was woken far too gently, so he knew straight off it wasn't Abby, who had never woke him gently in all their time together. He forced his eyes open, winching as his head pain sprung back to life with a vengeance.

"I do hope that wasn't because you find me unattractive."

Connor's eyes slammed shut again and he stayed very, very still. Wishing that Philip was like a T-Rex, and just wouldn't be able to see him.

Philip chuckled, and Connor heard the cuff around his wrist snap open. "You had better get changed Connor. Our guests are arriving and are impatient to meet you."

Connor waited a moment, but it seemed that Philip had no intentions of leaving the room. He opened his eyes again to find Philip watching him. He held off for a long as he could, but finally he got off the bed and changed into the clothes Philip had left out for him, with Philip watching silently the whole time.

"I didn't know you could be so quiet." Philip said when he had finished.

Connor swallowed hard, but didn't respond. He was caught somewhere between terror and hate, and there were no words that could express it. Besides, he wanted to give Philip as little excuse as possible to touch him, he'd felt filthy when the man had watched him change.

Philip lead him down to the living room he had been dumped in before, the chairs were all full this time with men of varying races, creeds and ages in business suits, waiting him in undisguised interest. He wondered, inanely, if this was what it felt like to stand in front of a dissertation committee and present.

"Mr. Temple." One man said and Philip herded him into a single lone chair in the centre of the room. "Philip has told us much about your work."

"It's classified." He said, immediate and abrupt. "I can't talk about it."

"Mr. Temple, I assure you that we all know about the Anomaly's, and the creatures that come from them." Another man said, smiling easily.

Connor shifted nervously. "What's going on here?" he asked finally, fighting to keep his voice as normal as he could.

"Connor." Philip said, resting a hand at the back of his neck, caressing it gently. "We had great need of your skills. You are the key to making the anomaly's work for us. Think of all the good we could do."

Connor pulled away from the hand and looked up. "You want to mess with time?" he asked, the possibilities just dawning on him, and he inwardly cursed himself a fool for not seeing it before. "But that could change history as we know it. You'd be as bad as Helen!"

Philip reached over and gave Connors head a light slap, directly on the spot he had been hit the day before and pain exploded again. Connor sagged back into the seat. "Connor, we have all been working very hard for this. You were our only missing link, and you will help us, whether you want to or not I'm afraid. We've put too much effort in this for it to fail now."

Philip shook his head. "It would have been easier if you hadn't been as delusional as you are about Miss Maitland."

"Leave Abby out of this!" Connor snapped, but he was ignored.

"Gentlemen, the time for New Dawn has arrived. Have the new labs been set up?"

"The labs are ready and waiting."

"How can we be sure he'll do the work properly?" one man asked.

Philip looked down at Connor and smiled. "He'll do it, and do it right, have no fear of that."

Connor didn't like the look in Philip's eyes, or the way his hand returned to his neck, thumb rubbing across his skin. God he hoped Abby and Lester found him soon.

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"Your sure this is the place?" Becker asked.

"I'm sure." Jess said, and Becker knew she was double checking her readings just to be sure.

"We really can't afford to be wrong again." Becker said, his gaze sliding across to Abby. In 24 hours they had raided four likely locations for Philip to have taken Connor, and each time there was no sign Abby had withdrawn farther into herself.

"This is the place." Jess said, but Becker could hear the faint hint of desperation there. It was an old Victorian house, and there were no outward signs that it was lived in at all.

Becker took a deep breath, and prayed that Jess was right, and signalled to his men to move in. They were running out of options, they needed to find Connor, and quickly.

_Is rescue just around the corner, or is this another dead end? Will Conner ever escape Philip's evil clutches? To be honest, I have no idea. Lol._


End file.
